Forgive the philosopher who cannot miss it: the delicate question of identity constantly comes up in the news. And it has important repercussions in education, where it raises immense questions.
As far as identity is concerned, in blessed mathematics, everything is very good. A = A… and with a few additions, everything flows together harmoniously. But elsewhere… And these days more than ever…
Individual identity, collective identity
There is of course first individual identity. Think about it for a moment. Who are you ? How do you define yourself? How did you become who you are?
We will quickly agree that the question is complex and that many factors played a role. Among them: our family, biology, heredity, our education, our encounters, the society where we were born, the one where we lived, travel, coincidences…
Then, there is also collective identity, also complex and influenced by various factors, and in particular by history.
I said that current events bring these subjects back to us. See instead.
In the first case, it is particularly with the delicate question of gender identity. A recent report from the show Investigationfrom Radio-Canada, which must be watched, has rightly caused a lot of talk.
Who decides whether there is gender dysphoria or not? How and on what basis should this be judged? What place should be given to what a child says about his identity? How to act next? These questions also arise at school, notably in a course on sexuality, in a course on citizenship and also in the adoption of school policies.
In the case of collective identity, they arise in particular through what immigration raises and everything that concerns the place of Quebec culture and reality in our schools. A text by Jean-François Lisée on all this has, and rightly so, caused a lot of discussion on this subject. And these questions also arise, of course, with secularism, currently before the courts…
In these two sets of cases, the controversies are numerous and are too often reflected in democratic conversation by these series of insults which have unfortunately become familiar and which prohibit discussion.
However, for a long time we have had answers to these questions that were undoubtedly imperfect, but quite solid and largely consensual.
Two common progressive responses…until recently
I will not go into detail here, but I think it is fair to say that broadly speaking, since what we will call, either the Enlightenment, liberalism or modernity, we have sought to confront to these delicate questions by invoking science wherever possible and secularism when it comes to collective identity.
It is also fair to say that, broadly speaking, these two ideals are being undermined today and that many of our current painful controversies come largely from
of the.
Science is sometimes considered as one discourse among others, a matter of male and white Westerners, of power and domination. I’ll let you give examples: there is no shortage of them, particularly on the current issues mentioned above.
As for secularism, a progressive and left-wing idea if ever there was one, it is now condemned by part of the left, in particular, this time again, because it would be a matter of power and domination. As for the culture of the host society, if it is wrong to be dominant… I’ll let you conclude.
Welcome to the postmodern world
I don’t have the space here to go into details, but I think that more and more of us among progressives and people on the left are worried about all this, which is not without serious concrete repercussions. on school, on children and on young people.
If we dig a little deeper, we will find behind these positions an influential current of thought called postmodernism, which five or six decades ago was still confined to the university, but which is now, explicitly or in a more diffuse way, well established. place in many decision-making places.
Everything, including science, is readily thought of in terms of dominants and dominated. Right-thinking, which exposes its virtue by taking a stand for the latter, too often replaces right-thinking. The answers seem to be known before you even begin to inquire. The individual is defined by his group to which he belongs and his feelings take precedence over everything.
I could go on and on.
It is amusing to note that one of the important sources of this resolutely relativistic postmodern thought is a work of philosophy by Jean-François Lyotard (1924-1998) entitled, aptly, The postmodern condition (1979). It is a report on knowledge commissioned by… the government of Quebec. He was to help him in his thinking and guide his action.
Doctor of philosophy, doctor of education and columnist, Normand Baillargeon has written, directed or translated and edited more than seventy works.